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Graduate Students

Background:Degrees: BS and MS in Education: Majoring in Exercise Physiology, Minor in Japanese with Teaching Certificate for Japanese. I nearly completed a PhD in Public Health with a Minor in Gerontology.Work Experience: I have taught Japanese for 20 years at the High School Level and also about 9 years at the college level. I lived in Japan for 3 years teaching English. I earned a Sogetsu Ikebana Teacher's License while living in Japan. I've studied Koto (13-string and 17-string zither) and have achieved the mid-level of performance proficiency. I also play Taiko (Japanese drums). I'm currently serving as the President of the Heart of America Japan-America Society.Where I'm from: I grew up in Joplin, MO. Undergraduate work at MSU and Graduate work at KU.

Deciding Factor That Brought you to KU: The M.A. Degree offering.

Academic Interests: I'd like to be able to take courses related to Asian Religions, Art, History and of course, contemporary issues. I'm particularly interested in social, spiritual and cultural issues related to Ageing. My emphasis is Japan but I'm also interested in topics related to Korea.

Future Goals: I'm actually preparing for a 3rd career. My first career was in the field of health and wellness. My 2nd career has been in Education, teaching Japanese. The MA degree will hopefully open some opportunities for consulting and expanded college teaching options beyond Japanese Language. I wish I could play a role in influencing school districts and textbook publishers to expand and deepen their content on Asia through a multi-disciplinary approach.

Name: Amanda Hill

Degree Program: Started the M.A. program in Contemporary East Asian Studies in Fall 2015.

Academic Background: Graduated from Emporia State University with a Bachelor of Social Sciences with a Minor in East Asian Studies and Chinese language.

Deciding Factor That Brought Her to KU: “I presented a paper at the SWCAS/MCAA conference held here in 2014 and met a lot of terrific KU faculty and graduate students. That really solidified my decision. ”

Favorite Class So Far: “Social Protest in China,” taught by Yao Li in Fall 2015. “It was just so relevant to modern East Asia. She gave us lots of control of the discussion, and what we wanted to study within that topic. I focused on air quality in China and how the related protests are affected by fear of government censorship.

Future Goals: “I want to get my Ph.D., possibly focusing on ethnic and gender studies, or on environmental issues within China. In one recent class, I merged the two of those topics and looked at health issues for migrant female workers in Chinese factories. After I get my Ph.D. I would love to be a professor in Asian Humanities focusing on China.”

Name: Matthew Schlosser

Degree Program: Completed the M.A. program in Fall 2014.

Professional Background: Matthew is a Foreign Area Officer whose work as a regional analyst focuses on Northeast Asia.

Deciding Factor that Brought Him to KU: “KU was especially attractive to me because it offers a perfectly matched regionally focused degree in the CEAS M.A.,” Schlosser said. “Its focus is broad enough to cover all of the area in which I am most interested (Japan, Korea and China) without being so broad as to lose the regional focus.”

Favorite Classes: Schlosser said that the most memorable courses were one on the current naval arms race in the South China Sea and another on minorities in Japan. “Before coming to KU, in spite of living in Japan for a year, I had no idea that groups like Zainichi Koreans and Burakumin existed. While my experience in Japan was extremely helpful to me in the classroom, taking that course in particular before going to Japan would have done much to enrich my experience there.”

Future Goals: Schlosser says, his previous job experience and his current academic coursework will provide an excellent foundation for his future employment as a regional analyst.

CEAS offers an M.A. program in Contemporary East Asian Studies.This interdisciplinary degree focused on 20th and 21st century East Asia provides students with in-depth interdisciplinary knowledge of a selected East Asian country (China, Korea, Japan); a broad knowledge of modern East Asia; and social science research skills and methods appropriate to international area studies. Read more about the CEAS M.A. Program, or contact Ayako Mizumura, CEAS Assistant Director, at ceasma@ku.edu or 785-864-1478.